The blood pressure changes momentarily in accordance with changes in external and internal environments. Therefore, it is ideal to be able to continuously record heartbeats one after another. Although such continuous recording is impossible, it is important to provide health care by measuring the change in blood pressure with time by periodically (intermittently) measuring the blood pressure over the course of a day.
When periodically measuring the blood pressure by the conventional blood pressure measuring apparatus, the blood pressure is measured by winding a cuff around the brachium of a person to be measured. In this case, it is necessary to attach, to the body, a large cuff that covers the brachium and the main body of the blood pressure measuring apparatus connected to the cuff. When periodically measuring the blood pressure by the blood pressure measuring apparatus, therefore, a person to be measured must always have the cuff attached to the brachium and the main body of the blood pressure measuring apparatus connected to the cuff being attached to the body. This largely interferes with everyday life. There is also a burden on the person to be measured; he or she may feel pain because the brachium is pressed whenever the blood pressure is measured.
In order to solve such problems, instead of measuring a blood pressure at a brachium, there is a blood measuring method for measuring the blood pressure by winding small cuff on the fingers. According to this measuring method, because the size of the finger is small compared with the brachium, the cuff and the main body can be made small (non patent reference 1). There is also a method that measures the pulse wave by attaching a cuff to the earlobe and pressing it (patent reference 1).
This method can make the cuff and main body smaller than a sphygmomanometer that measures the blood pressure by attaching a cuff to the brachium, and can also reduce the burden on a person to be measured.
Non-Patent Literature 1:
Osamu TOCHIKUBO, “Measurement method and clinical evaluation of blood pressure”, issued in Medical Tribune Ltd. in 1988, pages 59-61
Patent reference 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-6906